Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Gay Republicans

There aren't a lot of openly gay Republicans, but there are some. This
is not as surprising as it may seem. David Brock in his book Blinded By the Right
talks about what it is to be gay inside movement conservatism: they
accept it silently. At least they do until you stray from the fold and
then they attack you with every vile insult they'd been stifling all
those years. So I feel sorry for gay conservatives because their
political allies hate them and I fear they secretly hate themselves.

The thing is that sex is one of the most basic things about us. I can't
imagine joining a group that denies one of the core aspects of my being.
And what is this done for? Economic libertarianism that the movement
only pretends to follow? A fanatical belief in a religion that claims
you ought to be stoned to death?

The situation is even more intense when the politician comes out only
after he has been in office. In that case, I think that he is likely to
change his outlook over time. Clearly, coming out is a liberalizing act.
Who knows what the future holds?

Pennsylvania state Representative Mike Fleck is such a man. He is in his fourth term, but he
just came out as gay. And he has an interesting story: he is a graduate from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. I wonder what that experience did to him.I suspect there may be some gamesmanship going on with Fleck's announcement, however. Brian Sims was just elected
to the Pennsylvania state legislature and he would have been been the
first openly gay member. And a Democrat. Also note that Fleck came out after
the election. That should tell you everything you need to know about
the Republican Party generally when it comes to gay rights.

But I'm with Sims: "The truth of the matter is, I'm excited any time
anybody feels that they can come out of the closet... [and] that they
can be honest with themselves and people around them." Good policy is
secondary. At least for now.